ABOUT US

Marquis Studios is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization providing arts-­in­‐education services to 170 New York City public schools annually. We strive to develop a strong partnership between artists and teachers by providing arts programs to supplement traditional classroom teaching techniques. Each residency or workshop focuses on a specific visual or performing arts discipline selected by school staff and administration.

Founded in 1977, Marquis Studios has served over 500,000 students, 28,000 teachers and 18,000 parents at schools throughout New York City. Working with a diverse population, 80% of programs serve students living at or below the poverty line with over 50% of all grant-funded programming serving classrooms containing with disabilities.

OUR TEACHING ARTISTS

Marquis Studios employs 90 professional teaching artists whom specialize in a variety of disciplines. If you are interested in becoming a Teaching Artist visit our careers page.

Susanna Brock

Susanna is an educator, theater maker, actor and storyteller who believes in the transformative powers of the arts. She immensely enjoys working with young people, sparking and developing their love for music, theater and storytelling. With an expertise in early childhood she has had the opportunity to create magic and develop creative ideas and stories with countless children and families across the globe. As a performer Susanna strives to authentically connect with her audience whether it is through jazz singing or performing original theater for the very young with her company Spellbound Theatre. As a native Swede, born and raised in Sweden, she came to the U.S. in 2008 to study jazz singing at The City College of New York in Harlem. She graduated in 2013 with a BFA in jazz vocal studies and during college she had already started her work as a teaching artist. Susanna has performed as a singer all over the city at different bars and concert venues. You can also see her throughout the year at The Old Stone House in Park Slope performing her own original theater works for children ages 0-5.

Michele Brody

Michele Brody received her BA from Sarah Lawrence College in 1989 and her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1994. She has had one person shows at the Atelier-galeried’Art Contemporain: France; Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporaneo: Costa Rica; Dina4 Projekte: Germany; Temple Judea Museum: Pennsylvania; as well as chashama, Littlejohn Contemporary, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Casa Frela, Hudson Guild, and the Lower East Side Tenement Museum in New York City. Michele Brody has kept up a full time studio/exhibition practice for the past 20 years while working as an Artist/Educator throughout New York City. She has been the recipient of a grant or residency every year since 1995. She has had experience working with students of all ages through Studio in a School, Arts Horizons, Marquis Studios and the Studio Museum in Harlem. Michele has received grants from the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Pollock/Krasner Foundation, New York Foundation for the Arts, Bronx Council on the Arts and New York State Council on the Arts, and has worked as an Artist-in-Residence at Skowhegan, the Headlands Center for the Arts, Ox-Bow, Emmanuel College and the Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation. She has been a Marquis Studios teaching artists since 2014.

Ronald Chironna

Ronald Chironna, a native of Staten Island, NY, developed a love for the visual arts very early in his life, progressing from copying comic book illustrations as a youngster to creating acrylic paintings, silk screen prints, and pen and ink drawings in art classes in high school. Ron is a Pratt Institute summa cum laude graduate with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. At Pratt he majored in Communications Design and Illustration, learning the commercial art trade from some of the top professionals in the field. He’s worked as a freelance illustrator for clients from all areas of popular media for many years. After intensive arts education training with various teaching artist organizations, he’s been working as a teaching artist since 2007, currently also on the rosters of Arts For All, Studio in a School, The Center for Arts Education, and The Community Word Project. He has residency experience with students of all ages and abilities, and focuses on employing enjoyable visual arts projects and exercises with his students in a safe and creative environment. His goal is to help each student tell their own unique story, create art in their own distinct way, and draw knowledge from a school’s curriculum in their own singular fashion. He continues to learn a great deal from the students with whom he has the privilege to work.

“I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and that there are as few as there are any other great artists. Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit.”